24hcar: Reports

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Spyker to Begin Selling Sports Cars at Saab Showrooms

Posted by Mr Dung Friday, June 4, 2010

In a move that won't surprise anyone in the automotive industry, Spyker Cars NV and Saab Automobile owner, Victor Muller, confirmed plans to sell Spyker's high-end sports cars through Saab retailers by the end of the year.
"We are signing up Spyker dealerships left, right and center," Muller said in an interview with the Bloomberg news agency at Saab's headquarters in Trollhaettan, Sweden.
The firm's CEO said that as Saab dealers open their doors, Spyker's dealer network will almost double in 2010 expanding from 35 to 60 outlets and to about 90 by the end of next year.
One of the first Spyker models to be sold through selected Saab outlets will be the C8 Aileron that can reach a top speed of 186mph or 300km/h, and carries a base price of $214,990 in the U.S.
Aside from the Swedish automaker's dealer network, Muller said that Spyker has also started to benefit from lower prices for "generic" parts such as windscreen wiper motors that Saab gets through its higher sales volumes, adding that Spyker also plans to "tap Saab's engineering resources".
"Spyker will be profitable in its own right, very much helped by its sister Saab," said Muller. "It's wonderful that the company that saved Saab is also benefiting from having done that in its own business."

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Rolls Royce Sales Surge 146% in the First Five Months of 2010

Posted by Mr Dung Thursday, June 3, 2010

[FT]

Boosted by its new "entry-level" Ghost limousine that was launched in most markets in December '09, Rolls Royce sales surged to 678 cars in the first 5 months of 2010, recording an impressive 146% increase on a year ago.
The new Ghost sells for around $250,000 compared with $380,000 to $450,000 price tag of the four available variants of the British firm's flagship Phantom series, thus opening a new market for Rolls Royce.
Last year, the BMW Group-owned brand saw its sales fall by 17 per cent to just over 1,000 units which led the maker cut production and fire some temporary workers.
Rolls Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös told Financial Times that the firm's global sales "will be at least double the volume of last year" and that the company is entering into "new league of business."
According to Müller-Ötvös, China, where Rolls Royce has a total of seven dealerships, will most likely surpass in sales the brand's home market for the very first time this year.
"I could see China overtaking the UK this year as our second-biggest market after the US," said the Rolls Royce CEO.

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Chevrolet Camaro Outsells Ford Mustang by Almost 20,000 Units at Year One, But Loses in May '10

Posted by Mr Dung

[Scoop]

Yesterday we learned that the refreshed and more powerful 2011 Ford Mustang sold 10,225 units in May 2010 beating GM's Chevrolet Camaro by almost 1,300 units (8,931 sales monthly total).
The General's reaction? Early this morning, the Detroit automaker came out with a press release stating that from May 2009 (the 2010 Camaro's first full month of sales) to May 2010, Chevy's pony car posted 99,872 total sales, outselling the Ford Mustang by nearly 20,000 vehicles (80,340 units total).
The company added that the Camaro has led the pony car sales race for 11 of the last 12 months/
Of course, now that the Mustang has been upgraded with a pair of more powerful and frugal V6 and V8 engines, the Camaro won't have it so easy as May sales proved. That is until GM introduces a revised version of the Camaro and the cycle begins again...
For the record, Detroit's third pony car, the un-updated Dodge Challenger, sold a total of 3,828 copies in May 2010 recording a 42 percent increase over the same month last year (2,695 units), setting a monthly sales record for the second month in a row.

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Ford Planning to Kill Mercury Division, Maybe as Soon as Year's End

Posted by Mr Dung Friday, May 28, 2010

[Bloomberg]

Mercury, the maker of higher grade Ford models with waterfall grilles such as the Milan and Grande Marquis, will have the same fate of GM's Pontiac and Saturn brands, according to a report from Bloomberg citing two unnamed people familiar with the plan.
The news agency said that Ford Motor Co executives could ask the automaker's board of directors as early as July to green-lit the (eventual) axing of the Mercury brand.
Ford did not give a straight out answer when asked about the report. "Our plans regarding Mercury have not changed," said Ford spokesman, Mark Truby. "Like any good business, we constantly assess our business portfolio. If things change, we will let you know." Bill and Elena Ford declined to comment, Truby said.
People familiar with matter said that Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford and other members of the founding family, who have an all-important 40% voting control of the automaker, clearly support the elimination of Mercury.
The Mercury brand was created in 1939 by Edsel Ford as a Buick-like, entry-level luxury marque slotted between mainstream Fords and premium Lincolns.
The brand's sales peaked in 1978 at 579,498 units, but have since plunged to just 92,299 vehicles last year. In the first quarter of 2010, Mercury's sales accounted for a mere 1.9% of FoMoCo's global sales.

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Fiat Starts Combining Lancia and Chrysler Networks in Europe

Posted by Mr Dung Monday, May 24, 2010

In the continuing process of reorganizing Chrysler and Lancia, Fiat will be working to combine both brands' dealership and supply networks throughout Europe.The combined-dealerships will be known as Lancia throughout mainland Europe and Chrysler in the UK. The reason for that is Chrysler is currently established in the UK, while Lancia is not.
By 2014 the Lancia/Chrysler network is hoping to have 1,000 dealerships throughout Europe.

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Lamborghini Recalling Murcielago Coupe and Roadster Models Over Fuel Leakage Concerns

Posted by Mr Dung

[Carscoop]

Lamborghini issued a recall on a total of 428 examples of the 2007-2008 model year Murcielago Coupe and Roadster models in the U.S. The reason?
According to the company, the welds holding the fuel pump support inside the fuel tank could detach leading to a fuel leak. In the presence of an ignition source, this situation could result in a fire - and that's definitely something Murcielago owners would like to avoid...

The Italian supercar maker told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that its U.S. dealers will replace the Murcielago's fuel tank free of charge.

The safety recall is expected to begin during in June. If you happen to own one of the affected models, you may contact Lamborghini for more information directly at 1-912-409-5634 or 1-508-808-9562.

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Volkswagen Group to Buy Italdesign Giugiaro?

Posted by Mr Dung Thursday, May 20, 2010

[Autoweek]

Volkswagen's master plan is all about numbers. Being the biggest, baddest automaker out there. That's why it isn't any surprise to hear that Volkswagen might be bringing Italdesign Giugiaro under its wing (nothing is official yet).
An acquisition would be another major part of VW's world takeover scheme, assisting with the goal selling 10 million vehicles in 2018. Its ten brands intend to release sixty new or updated models this year, so more designers and engineers are needed.

Now is far from the first time that VW and Giugiaro have worked together. The Italian design house has helped create a variety of cars for those aforementioned ten brands.

The list includes: VW's Golf Mk1, Passat Mk1, Scirocco Mk1, and W12 / Nardo concepts; Audi's 80; Bugatti's EB118, EB218, and 18/3 Chiron; Porsche's 1970 Tapiro; Lamborghini's Marco Polo and Cala; Seat's Ibiza Mk1, Toledo Mk1 & Mk2, Córdoba Mk1, and Málaga.

Expect more news as it hits.